Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Halloween Nostalgia

Back around 1990, when I was still going to college in Rochester, NY and dating my wife, I got one of the most memorable Halloween treats of all time: My wife was from Syracuse and wanted to take me to Switz's on an October weekend. Switz's was like an old time "Five and Dime" type store. The building it resided in was like something out of the Munsters or Addams Family TV shows, with a large clock tower. As we entered the store there was a Dracula type vampire in an upright coffin prop. The vampire prop looked real enough and peaked my curiosity. As I came in closer to the lifeless still body in the coffin to get a better look at the details, the vampire lunged towards me and gave me one of the best Halloween scares of my life. But that was just an opening act, because my wife said there's was still more to see. Inside the store was a large haunted graveyard and a giant 14-foot tall animatronic ogre, Oscar, in the middle of it. Switz's Halloween display was and still is unlike any Halloween store display I've ever seen. Sadly Switz's closed its doors in 1993. For more history on Switz's check out Syracuse Nostalgia's Switz's page here.